Grand Forks, N.D. – The North Dakota men’s tennis team earned its first Big Sky Conference win in program history on Saturday with a 4-3 victory over Northern Arizona at the Choice Health and Fitness Center.

“We succeed in winning the matches we could win. We won the four tight ones and lost the ones that were not all that tight,” Head Coach Tom Wynne said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of being opportunistic and winning the tight matches. I am very pleased with how we played.”

Northern Arizona started the match off strong by earning the doubles point and winning all three matches.

North Dakota rallied back in singles play and took four of the six matches.

Junior Josh Oothoudt (Minot, N.D.) had a close match with Patrick Schimmelbauer. Oothoudt won his first set 6-2, but Schimmelbauer rallied in the second for a 7-5 victory. In the third set, Oothoudt won the match with a score of 6-1.

Junior Grant Bakke (Bismarck, N.D.) went to three sets to defeat Kester Black. Bakke earned the first set with a 6-0 score and Black took the second set 6-4. Bakke won the third set and the match with a score of 6-2 in No. 4 singles.